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Madam Xu’s Party Line

Critics have argued that China’s Confucius Institutes pose a threat to academic freedom in the United States, Canada, Europe and beyond. Now the Beijing official in charge has confirmed it.

If you’re new to this issue, the Chinese government has set up 1,100 of these state-run Confucius Institutes since 2004 to teach language and culture within universities and grade schools world-wide. Now the institutes are facing long overdue scrutiny, and some universities and school districts are closing them down.